"'America is something that can be easily moved. Moved to the right direction.They won’t get in our way'"
Benjamin Netanyahu

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Senior US Official: "Qatar's Emir just lied to our face!"

MEPGS Excerpts;

"... Even
beyond Syria’s immediate neighbors, there is confusion, or at least splits
among the various Arab leaders.The tiny but quite wealthy and active Qatar, which, as the expression
goes, has been “punching above its weight,” is a case in point.Its leadership (which consists of three
men, the Emir, his son and the Foreign Minister) has consistently backed
Islamist forces with money and war material in their rebellion against the
established order, whether in Libya or now, Syria.Some say, this has chagrined the Saudis [A practice, their
hard drinking, yet fellow Wahabbis are prone to do]. Others argue the usually
reticent [and now somewhat geriatric]Saudi leadership has found it convenient
to allow Qatar to take the lead.Still, few in Washington are pleased with Qatar’s policies across the
board.Recent meetings with the
Emir did not go well.The US
wanted a pledge that Qatar would no longer support “extremist” Islamists
fighting in Syria.“He said they
wouldn’t,” noted a well-placed US official, who then added “He just lied to our
faces.”Even Qatar policies towards
friends are causing angst in Washington.For example, its“no-strings attached” assistance to Egypt, undermines the
Administration’s goal of getting Cairo to adopt an International Monetary Fund
[“IMF”] plan for getting its fiscal house in order [US officials say, that
while Qatar has provided Cairo with grants totaling more than $6 billion, the
terms of their most recent example of largesse were not so generous.What Cairo thought was a interest free
$3 billion loan turned out to have an interest rate of 5% , with the principal
due within 18 months]..."